TERRITORY Thunder continues to go from strength to strength following a comfortable 36-point win against the Gold Coast Suns Reserves at Metricon Stadium yesterday.

The Territory celebrated co-captain Cameron Ilett’s 100th milestone match in style while also recording their third consecutive win, with accurate kicking key to their 16.5 (101) to 8.17 (65) victory.

Jake Roe-Duggan had two goals inside the first two minutes as Thunder held the Suns goal-less in the first half while slamming on 11 of their own.

Karmichael Hunt, who was on the cusp of senior selection, came off in the second quarter with concussion, which only added to the Suns pain.

But the NT took their foot off the pedal in the third as the Suns lifted their tackling pressure and began to take advantage through hard running and capitalising on attacking opportunities.

They outscored Thunder 4.6 to 1.1 but Chris Dunne’s running goal from the boundary at the 28-minute mark not only produced the play of the quarter but one of the goals of the day.

It settled Thunder in the shadows of three-quarter time as they steadied in an even last quarter and Roe-Duggan started the last like he did the first with a brilliant one-handed pick up and snap from 30m out. Co-captain Aaron Motlop said it was a disappointing effort in the second half but was pleased they continued their winning start to the year, ahead of three games in a row at TIO Stadium.

“When we get tired we have to learn to control the footy and control the game down and get the game back on our terms,” he said.

“We kept trying to play fast footy and you can’t do that against an AFL Reserves side. They weren’t as good as they wanted to be in the first half and we were lucky our accuracy was good.”

Thunder take on the Sydney Hills Eagles at Marrara next week while the winless Suns face Sydney.